$2,000,000 to Be Spent on Crimean, Ukrainian Colonies This Year

Ten million rubles (about $2,000,000) will be spent during 1937 for the further development of the Ukrainian and Crimean Jewish colonies established with the aid of American funds, it was revealed by Dr. Joseph A. Rosen, director of the Agro-Joint, who sailed for Europe on the Manhattan.

The current budget, Dr. Rosen declared, will be spent largely on electrification, irrigation and industrial projects and will continue the colonization work begun by the Agro-Joint in 1924. Since then 250,000 Jews have been settled on 3,000,000 acres of land and tens of thousands more have been absorbed into Russian industry as a result of the stimulus of Agro-Joint activity.

The 1937 expenditures, which it is hoped will not only improve conditions among those already settled on the land but will also enable the colonies to absorb additional families, will be met jointly by the Government, the Agro-Joint and the colonies, themselves, he said. In addition, the Government Agricultural Bank will make credits of 5,400,000 rubles available to the colonies to finance the settlement on farms of 500 new Jewish families during the coming year.